Anders Ljungberg

Pricing public transport services

This chapter aims at outlining pricing policy for public transport that maximizes the social surplus, that is, the sum of the producer surplus and the consumer surplus, while internalizing possible system-external costs. It starts by presenting the door-to-door transport cost as a key concept in price theory for public transport, and then first principles of optimal pricing valid for all modes of public transport are laid down. These principles are applied to urban (short-distance) public transport in sections 13.2–13.5 and to inter-urban (long-distance) public transport in section 13.6. Section 13.7 summarizes the methodological conclusions.

Staggered school hours to spread peak demand for public transport. Benefits and costs

The author uses a case study of student transportation by public bus in Linkoping, Sweden, to discuss the possibility of public transportation peak demand spread through staggered school hours. The study found that introducing a staggered morning start for Linkopings high schools can substantially reduce extreme morning peak at only one departure point on Linkopings many lines. It demonstrated that bus service cost savings from the leveling out of the extreme morning peak could be of the same magnitude as costs for students resulting from a change in school hours. Staggered school hours could introduce other changes that could benefit the bus transportation system while reducing student costs. Cooperation between the public transportation authority and the high school headmasters is the biggest challenge.